1219 Lurk 1

A few days had passed since.

Nine-Tailed Fox and the others had come to the base for the second time. They had brought along a girl who Garen was familiar with as well - Night Water.

It was the girl he had caught sneaking around his back looking for Soul Crystals.

Night Water's jaw dropped the moment she saw Garen. The Soul Energy released from Garen's body was similar to the chill released when an extremely cool refrigerator was opened as it kept flowing freely from both sides.

"You... You monster!? In such a short amount of time..." Garen gave her a warning gaze before she finished speaking. It was the kind of sly smile that one would make before killing someone else.

Night Water shut her mouth the moment she realized it.

Despite being an expert in the Mother Stream System, she was technically only a Guardian Level. These five classes, the Guard, Division, General Army, and Demon Lord was the Ancient Endor's general categorization towards the Void Creature.

Each Level would require a tremendous amount of time to train and master to achieve. If Garen did not have the Natural Attribute Ability and were to train in the traditional way, he would require at least thousands of years to train before achieving such a level.

"What's wrong?" Nine-Tailed Fox and the others asked while they were preparing the duplication procedure.

"Nothing..." Night Water barely put on a smile. "I was just thinking how much Garen had changed. Hahaha!!" She started laughing stupidly as she found an excuse that was barely believable.

"Alright, follow me, everyone." Garen continued giving Night Water the hypocritical smile as he brought them to the secret chamber where Mind Read was kept in.

It was the same procedure as before. However, the duplication was for Nine-Tailed Fox instead.

One could say that she had given up on the Slayer's Sacred Sigil as the probability of obtaining it was very low. Furthermore, Mind Reader was literally in front of her and was very well within reach. There was no need to risk her life to obtain Slayer's Sacred Sigil.

The procedure was very successful as it went much smoother than last time.

Similar to Kong Xinxue, Nine-Tailed Fox was very weak after the procedure was completed. However, she was better than Kong Xinxue as she did not faint. It seemed that she had a much stronger soul than her. Li Hua picked her up and sent her home.

The ordeal ended and the deal between Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox was considered complete. Everyone went on their way, leaving Night Water alone.

"Do you still need anything?" Garen sat down as he drank the coffee that was sent to him earlier.

Night Water gritted her teeth. "How much are you willing to pay for me to study the Mind Reader's Sacred Sigil? You know what I'm talking about. The Soul Energy releasing naturally from the Mind Reader possesses a very powerful enhancement towards us Soul Energy Practitioners."

"The price?" Garen had already guessed that she would come for this. "Unfortunately, I need to keep Mind Reader up as a supply so I won't be sharing his Soul Energy with you."

"Fifty thousand Contribution Points!" Night Water gritted her teeth.

Garen shook his head. "It's not about the Contribution Point."

"A hundred thousand!" Night Water gritted her teeth even more.

"It's really not about the Contribution Point."

"Two hundred thousand points!" She was literally speaking through her teeth.

"No!" Garen cut her off. "I told you it's not about the Contribution Points." He had decided to completely swallow up Mind Reader so that there would be no problems surfacing in the future. He had already absorbed a sixth of Mind Reader's natural Soul Ring earlier. If he were able to absorb everything, his Soul Ring Power would achieve a whole new level.

"Two hundred and fifty thousand points!! This is all that I have accumulated! Don't be too greedy!" Night Water had had enough.

"..." Garen frowned as he stared at her quietly.

"You... What are you staring at!?" Night Water had goosebumps as she was being stared at. "Are you being tempted? Tell me if you are!"

"I'm thinking if I should rob you! What a rich girl," Garen joked as he stood up. "Alright. It's late and you should leave."

"It's two hundred and fifty thousand points!! Are you not tempted at all?!" Night Water stood up and shouted in disbelief.

"You won't be leaving if you don't leave now." Garen snapped his fingers and Double-Tailed Scorpion entered the room to send the guest off.

"This way." Double-Tailed Scorpion smiled as he sent the guest away.

Night Water was then sent away in dissatisfaction.

Garen stood alone for a while before ordering his underlings to lock down the entrance so that no one could simply enter or leave the area. Then he turned around and walked into the secret chamber.

It was not that he was not tempted by the Contribution Points. It was because the longer Night Water stayed by Mind Reader's side, it would be easier for her to realize Mind Reader's irregularity. Furthermore, he could not wait any longer as it would only be considered safe after he had achieved his plan.

Mind Reader was still unconscious inside the secret chamber and the black sun striation on his chest had yet to completely vanish.

Garen pulled him up single-handedly.

Then, a slam could be heard.

The secret chamber's door was automatically shut off.

The Soul Energy was startled as the air current started to flow about wildly, recirculating inside the secret chamber.

A mysterious faint, white light started glowing around both Mind Reader and Garen from head to toe, gradually plating them into white color.

The air inside started to tremble, giving off a noise similar to as if there were countless of people meditating. Garen stared at the Sacred Sigil on Mind Reader's chest while he used one of his hands to take out the blood ink and repeated the procedure.

Pew!

The black mist was formed and turned into a Blood Ball levitating in Garen's palm.

"Lin!" As the faint noise reverberated in the background, Garen gently pressed the Blood Ball on his own chest. The Blood Ball gave off a sizzling sound before it entered into his body.

This was the first ball.

He repeated the same action once more. Unlike Nine-Tailed Fox, whose actions possessed the probability of failure, Garen did not waste a single drop of blood ink as he drew the Sacred Sigil. Two bottles of blood ink were more than enough for him to completely absorb the power of the Sacred Sigil!

The second blood ball was quickly extracted and the black sun on the Mind Reader's chest became much more diluted than before.

He woke up, groaning as if his body was being torn apart.

"You..." Mind Reader looked at Garen with a muddy gaze as he felt the sensation of something constantly leaving his body. He did not know why but he felt rather depressed.

"Do you want... this power of mine?" Mind Reader gave a wry smile. "Take it... Take everything. This is a tragic and disgusting ability!"

Without any change in his expression, Garen started to extract the third Blood Ball. His actions were getting much more efficient over time as he aimed at Mind Reader's chest with one hand and stabbed into it.

Thud.

The blood mist gathering by his palm turned into a Blood Ball. It looked like Garen had taken out a bloody heart out from Mind Reader's chest from afar.

"This is the source of all nightmares...!" Mind Reader smiled. "Am I going to... die?"

"No," Garen responded calmly. "Your Soul Ring will be extracted by me but you won't die. I'll leave enough soul for you to function as a normal person. It's more than enough for you to live."

"Is that so?" Mind Reader, who was slightly anxious was instantly relieved. "In other words, my ability will be robbed away from me, right?"

"You can see it that way."

Garen extracted the fourth Blood Ball as he gently pressed it into his chest.

A huge amount of Soul Energy gushed into his body.

His first Soul Ring could no longer absorb any of it as the second Soul Ring started to form. Furthermore, the third Soul Seed was already forming inside the second Soul Ring. As he was extracting Mind Reader's Soul Ring, he was also under the process of absorbing the Natural Soul Energy's huge amount of outflow. This outflow of Soul Energy was not something a commoner could absorb as the process was incredibly fast, resulting in a ridiculously powerful impact. However, Garen was different. Technically, he was already considered a Demon Lord Level powerhouse in the Mother Stream System. Hence his soul was a few hundred times stronger than of the commoners.

Despite Nine-Tailed Fox was also a transmigrator who had transmigrated to multiple worlds, her soul was still not superior compared to his. It would still be considered modest for him to say that his soul was hundred times stronger than hers.

Garen looked at the dark space inside his soul.

Inside the pitch black space, there was a second halo on top of the first Soul Ring. The halo seemed to be made of a white gold material as it had empty slots for the Soul Seed, which seemed to be a projection from the first Soul Ring below.

The first three slots already had colorless Soul Seeds in it. Furthermore, it had already been fully filled up. The enormous amount of Soul Energy was filling up the fourth empty slot, which was like an endless abyss as it kept absorbing it.

The endless amount of Soul Energy was surging inside Garen's body as it nourished both his soul and body. Regardless of how restrictive this universe was, he was like an unstoppable force that could not be contained as he kept pushing towards the upper limits.

Garen then looked at his status and there was a huge development.

'Kong Xiaofei - Strength 11, Agility 12, Vitality 14, Intelligence 11. Potential 0%, Soul Limit 80'

His limit had already reached eighty points while the rest of his physical attributes had skyrocketed to an unrealistic level within a short amount of time. Physical attributes in the tens might not be something impressive in the other world. However, it had already reached the level that would flabbergast anyone in this very restrictive world.

This status was borderline cheating as Garen would not be required to exhaust a huge amount of Soul Energy every second or else he would not be able to sustain such a powerful structure. Analogically, the number of nutrients and water between a giant tree and a little sapling were drastically different. A tree that reached the clouds could only do so due to the huge amount of nutrients provided from the ground. Hence, the tree would wilt if there was not enough supply of nutrients.

A pool would not be able to sustain a sea serpent and only the sea could house an endless amount of gigantic creature. It was a universal law that was applied to every world.

The fifth ball!

Garen gently retracted his hand away from Mind Reader's chest. A huge sun striation started to appear on his chest. The black sun striation seemed to have formed onto his body naturally. Its tone was much different than of Mind Reader's as it was much blacker. Furthermore, it had much more surface area as it not only covered Garen's chest, it had also covered his back as well.

**********

"Isn't it a little bit discourteous for Lord Third to let us wait here?" There were a few black cars stopping in front of Garen's base. An upright silver triangle emblem could be seen in front of the cars which represented the identity of the highest ranking members in Vulture.

"I'm very sorry. The minister has ordered that no one is allowed to enter this base without his permission. Please be patient." Double-Tailed Scorpion blocked the fleet of cars with a calm expression.

Vulture No. 4 frowned as he smoked his cigarette. He was standing at the very front as he led his group. Behind him were a few mercenaries in weird looking attires consisting of males and females.

Among the crowds of men and women, a young man in a white windbreaker crossed his arms as he stared into the tall building in front of him before looking at Number Four talking towards the guard at the entrance of the building.

"I sense the Soul Energy is fluctuating." He whispered to Number Four from behind. "We have to be quick. I'm afraid that Garen is doing something with the Mind Reader."

"Are you confident? The Sword Master is known as the strongest martial artist in the entire history!" Number Four talked to the man behind him, while at the same time was also talking to Double-Tailed Scorpion who was standing at the entrance of the building.

"Don't worry about it. We are professionals." The man in white windbreaker smiled.

"I hope so. Don't blame me if I abandon you guys if anything goes sour." Number Four said bluntly. "After all, we are only cooperating together."

"As you wish." The man in the windbreaker was not surprised at all.

"Please step aside or else we will have to be rough towards you." He took a step forward and threatened Double-Tailed Scorpion loudly.

"I want to see how rough you guys can be." A man in a white coat appeared behind Double-Tailed Scorpion. It was the Root Doctor, Jiatai.

He had just returned from an outstation mission. He was catching up on his sleep as he was woken up by the rackets outside. Then, he heard such a rage-inducing word the moment he stepped out. This building was the Unrestricted Department's territory, its headquarters, and a portion of Vulture's headquarters resided here as well. How dare someone threatened to break into this place?

This was similar to someone banging your doors furiously, threatening for you to open it or else they would kill you! Anyone would have been angry after hearing such words.